Cepolinae is one of two subfamilies of marine ray-finned fish belonging to family Cepolidae, the bandfishes.

Cepolinae
Cepola macrophthalma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Cepolidae
Subfamily: Cepolinae
Rafinesque, 1815[1]

Taxonomy

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Cepolinae was named by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque as the family Cepolidae.[1] It became a subfamily when the genus Owstonia was added to the Cepolidae, having previously been considered a monotypic family Owstonidae, and now considered to be the subfamily Owstoninae.[2] The name, Cepolinae, is derived from the Linnaeus’ 1764 name for the type genus, Cepola and means "little onion", Linnaeus did not explain why he chose this name. It is likely derived from cepollam or cepulam, which in 1686 was said by Francis Willughby to be local names among Roman fishermen for the similar "Fierasfer", a pearlfish, to which Linnaeus believed Cepola macrophthalma was related. As well as this, in 1872 Giovanni Canestrini reported that in Naples the common name for C. macropthalma is Pesce cipolia meaning “onion fish”.[3]

Genera

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There are two genera in the subfamily Cepolinae, containing 9 species:[4]

Characteristics

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Cepolinae bandfishes are clearly elongated in shape, more so than Owstonia bandfishes. They have total counts of 48-79 vertebrae and 55-90 soft rays in the dorsal fin. The last soft rays of both the dorsal and anal fins are joined to the caudal fin by a membrane.[4] They vary in maximum total length from 25 cm (9.8 in) in Cepola australis to 80 cm (31 in) in Cepola macrophthalma.[5]

Distribution, habitat and biology

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Cepolinae bandfishes are found in the eastern Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea, and in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean.[6] [5] They live over soft bottoms of sand and mud, burrowing into the substrate and feed on zooplankton.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  2. ^ W.F. Smith-Vaniz & G.D. Johnson (2016). "Hidden diversity in deep-water bandfishes: review of Owstonia with descriptions of twenty-one new species (Teleostei: Cepolidae: Owstoniinae)". Zootaxa. 4187 (1): 1–103. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4187.1.1.
  3. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (3 September 2020). "Order Priacanthiformes: Families Priacanthidae and Cepolidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Cepolidae". FishBase. June 2021 version.
  5. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Cepola". FishBase. June 2021 version.
  6. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Acanthcepola". FishBase. June 2021 version.